True friendship
by dragontattoo75
Summary: Revealing their deepest secrets, Edward, Jasper and Carlisle have a night they will never forget. AH.
1. Chapter 1

Thank you Jay's World for your help and encouragement with this and thank you so much Cocoalvin for offering to beta this thing for me.

I don't own Twilight. No copyright infringement intended.

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><p>Being punched in the face is never a good thing. Luckily I've had my fair share of training cleaning up small wounds from my years in football practice. And of course by being Carlisle's best friend.<p>

Tonight we're partying at LaPush beach at the start of our junior year. It's still hot outside even if the sun set behind the trees a while ago. We've been basking in the sun and swimming all day, but now it's time to party. Carlisle, Jasper and I are sharing a tent, and most of the others are staying the night too.

Before the summer holiday we were all so tired of seeing the same faces at every party, but now, after a long summer apart, we're happy to see our classmates we've known since first grade.

That is, of course, with the exception of Carlisle.

Unfortunately it seems he's never going to learn. I had great hopes for him after this summer and thought he would have matured a bit. Every time he drinks he apparently says the sleaziest things to girls. At least that's what I understand from the way girls shy away from him at parties. This time he obviously picked the wrong girl.

"Oh, Edward, that hurts," Carlisle winces when I try to clean his eye. It's already starting to swell, and under the blood that's smeared around, I can see his skin is turning purple, almost black.

Thinking out loud I say, "I don't think you can ignore this one, Carlisle." Holding his t-shirt to his eye, he tilts his head backward to look at me with his other.

"But I don't want to go home," he whines. "I think Esme really wants me. I'm sure she didn't mean to hit this hard."

"Okay, maybe she didn't, but I think you should take a hint. I'll get Jasper to drive us home in his car, he's only had a couple of beers." Looking around for Jasper I hold my tongue, not wanting to give it to him harshly. We can talk more about this later when he's not in pain and there aren't so many people around us.

Where is Jasper? He was right here when we saw Esme punch Carlisle almost like it was in slow motion. We'd been sitting together on the bench drinking our second beer and talking, of course, about our favorite subject at parties – Carlisle, and all the trouble he got into.

Had he changed his ways with girls after this summer with his father in Italy? We got our answer so quickly that we hadn't had time to even make a bet, yet.

"Keep pressing your shirt to your eye. I'm going to look for Jasper," I tell Carlisle. I get a little worried knot in my stomach. Why isn't Jasper beside me, helping his best friend? I know he saw what happened.

Scanning through our friends and classmates I can't see his tall frame anywhere. I go down to the beach where the waves roll in lazily and there I see him, sitting at a rock looking out at the ocean.

Calling out his name a couple of times, I finally get him to turn around and I wave at him to come to me. He gets up and is by my side in a second.

"Why are you down here by yourself and not helping me?" I frown at him.

He shrugs looking sideways at me as we hurry back. "How bad is it this time?"

"We have to take him home so that we can clean the wound and get my dad to look at it. I don't know if he'll need stitches."

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><p>The next weekend, I invite the guys to spend the night in my basement. We used to hang out here before we got to the age where we started going to parties and trying to get girlfriends.<p>

All of us are still trying to get girlfriends, some of us with more luck than others. I dated this girl for a while this spring. We even went to prom together, but she ended up in some other guy's car at the end of the night instead of mine.

I don't really know what happened between us, but at least I got some practice making out. That's more than I can say about Jasper. As far as I know, he has never even kissed a girl.

He's been lusting after this chick, Alice, all summer. He says she lives in Chicago, but they have never actually met in person. He told me they found each other on an Internet forum where he's been spending a lot of his free time.

When we were hanging out after work this summer, he often had to go home early to chat or Skype with her. I couldn't understand why he put all this effort into maintaining a relationship with her, when there are several girls from our town lusting after him, girls he could actually touch. He has this quiet and mysterious vibe going for him, or so I've heard.

We have a lot to talk about, so I'm planning on having a guys night like we used to.

Carlisle shows up first, beer in hand. His eye is better now, but he still has the stitches in.

All smiles, he's his charming self. Why he can't be this way with girls, I'll never understand.

We go straight down to the basement and make ourselves comfortable on the couch. Propping our feet on the table, we open our first beer.

Carlisle and I have made a serious dent in our beer stock when we decide to text Jasper. Just as I'm about to press the speed dial, we hear him racing down the stairs.

"Finally!" Carlisle yells out and pats the seat beside him on the couch when we see Jasper's face. "Come sit here." He watches Jasper walk towards him and his brow furrows in thought. "What's the matter with you? What took you so long?"

Jasper sits down and takes the beer I hand him over the table. He looks a bit uncomfortable. "I'm just tired I guess," he says and looks at me. Am I supposed to know what his problem is?

Carlisle follows Jasper's gaze to me and looks at me with his eyebrows raised. I just shrug. "More beers?" I ask them and they get more comfortable on the couch as we talk.

A while later we're all starting to loosen our tongues. We hear about Carlisle's trip to Italy where he actually got to kiss a girl's cheek. He whispers to me when Jasper is in the bathroom that the girl was his cousin though.

When Jasper's back, I start asking Carlisle about his way with girls. Why can't he try to compliment them instead of harassing them when he tries to chat them up?

"Maybe I don't know how to compliment them without fucking it up," he shrugs.

"So what exactly do you say to them?" I ask. Jasper and I have had several conversations about it this summer.

"I tell them what I see, like -You have big boobs- or -You wear a lot of perfume-," he says.

Looking at each other Jasper and I try not to laugh, but we crack up anyway. Holding our stomachs we can't seem to stop even if it's kind of rude. This is too funny.

"Maybe you should try to make friends with a girl and then ask her what you should say?" Jasper suggests trying to put his empty bottle on the table. He's obviously a bit drunk, just the way I was hoping he would get.

"Can't you ask Alice for him?" I ask Jasper looking at his reaction. "Or maybe Carlisle can ask her himself if you give him her e-mail address?" Jasper is staring at me and turning a bit pale.

"Wh... what?"

"Yeah, can't I borrow your friend for a night?" Carlisle pipes up and almost gets a fist in his face again, but Jasper hits the cushion beside him and then stands up on wobbly feet.

I put my hand on his shoulder. "Oh, sit back down," I say to him. "We're only teasing you." He glares at us, but sits back down.

Giving him another bottle, I ask him: "So what do you and Alice talk about for all hours at night?"

He clears his voice loudly. "Hm, it's not like we speak much."

Carlisle and I look at each other at the same time and both of us have big smiles. "So, what do you do then?" Carlisle says.

Jasper stares from Carlisle to me with big eyes and gulps loudly. I can tell his mind is racing. Maybe the alcohol slurs his doubt, because suddenly his eyes look determined and he opens his mouth.

"You're my best friends and I trust you. So, maybe it's the beers giving me courage, but I'm actually going to tell you something I haven't told anybody before. " He starts fiddling with a torn part of his jeans.

He pauses, clears his voice, and almost whispers: "Her name isn't Alice. Well, his name is actually Alec." He leans forward and puts his face in his hands.

Carlisle and I stare at each other for what feels like a long time. Finally we sit back and Carlisle mutters: "I'll be damned!"

After what feels like hours, Jasper peeks out of his fingers and looks at me. "You're not mad?"

"Mad, huh? No of course I'm not mad! I'm just surprised." I say to him. "Wow! You're gay!"

I get us more to drink and as I hand one to Carlisle, he takes it, but I can tell his mind is somewhere else. I shove his shoulder. "Carlisle? Say something!"

He shakes his head, takes a long gulp of his beer and clears his voice. "So, you're gay, huh..."

"Yeah, I guess I am." Jasper has a worried line between his eyes. "Are you okay with that? You two are really important to me. I would hate to lose your friendship. Alec is the only other person who knows."

I stand up and walk over to him. He looks up at me, a bit worried. "Stand up!" I say to him and he stands up slowly. I look him in the eye and reach out my hand to him. Some of his worry seems to melt away as he takes it and we shake.

"You won't lose me, Jasper, I'll always be your friend," I tell him. His sexual preferences have nothing to do with our friendship.

"Thanks, Edward!" He pulls me in for a hug and as we separate, we both look at Carlisle who's still lost in his own head.

"What's the matter, Carlisle?" I kick his foot. "Do you have a problem with Jasper being gay and all?"

"Huh?" He shakes his head. "I've got to go to the bathroom." He stands up and unsteadily walks to the door.

"Do you think we will see him again tonight?" Jasper worriedly asks me. I'm actually a little pissed at Carlisle for his reaction, but decide not to say anything before we hear his reasons. We sit back down and I shrug. "I don't know. That was a bit of a strange reaction, wasn't it? So, tell me, what's Alec like?"

We talk about his friend for a while, and Jasper denies that they're boyfriends. They only like each other. "I don't love him," Jasper says and we both turn our heads when we hear Carlisle come back from the bathroom.

"So, you don't love him, you only use him for sex?" Carlisle asks with a bit of venom in his voice.

"What's the matter with you today?" I stand up and face him, but Carlisle's looking at Jasper whose face has turned pink.

"N-no, we talk about many things," Jasper murmurs. "I talk about you two, of course, and school and work. A lot of things."

"So you don't do anything sexually together?" Carlisle relaxes a bit, only to tense up again when Jasper reluctantly tells him they sort of do.

"How does that work out being on the computer and all?"

I'm a bit surprised that Carlisle asks this of him, but then again, since Carlisle doesn't have tact with girls, maybe it's not girls in particular, but all things sexual that seems to get him to talk like this.

"What do you mean?" Jasper asks carefully. He seems as confused as me by what Carlisle really feels about this.

"I mean, do you talk to each other for a bit, then wank together, or what?" Jasper swallows loudly at Carlisle's question and his cheeks are bright pink.

"Sometimes?" His voice is a bit squeaky. Jasper and Carlisle look into each other's eyes for a bit then the air seems to go out of Carlisle when he leans back on the couch.

We all just sit there for a while, thinking. Suddenly Carlisle clears his voice. "So tell us more about what you do together?"

I decide not to say anything, because I have to admit to myself I'm a bit intrigued by this. What do guys do? I've never really thought about that.

I see Jasper staring at Carlisle. "Okay, I'll tell you more about it, but it's not like I have world knowledge about gay sex. That's part of the reason why I've continued this with Alec. We learn from each other."

Both Carlisle and I listen intently to Jasper explaining. "So, what do you want to know?"

"I don't know?" Carlisle says, "What can you do when you're online and not together physically?"

"We often talk about things we've read about or fantasize about. Sometimes it's just stupid, but sometimes it's really hot."

"Like what?" Carlisle's voice is just a breath.

"Well, sometimes we get really worked up and we both start to stroke our dicks. Like you said, we wank together. It's much more arousing when you do that knowing another person gets turned on by looking at you."

Carlisle's looking a bit flushed and looks around before he's placing a pillow over his crouch. Every seventeen-year-old guy knows what that means.

Being the hormonal teenager's we are, just by hearing the word "sex" turns us on. There's nothing strange about his reaction, I tell myself. I feel my own dick stirring, actually.

Both Carlisle and I stare at Jasper as he runs his hand through his hair, tugging at it.

"Sometimes we watch same porn movie and talk about what we see."

"So, what do you see in those movies?" Carlisle doesn't seem to realize he asked a question.

"It's guys giving each other blow jobs and fucking of course!"

Letting his hand glide under the pillow, Carlisle seems to be palming himself. Jasper's eyes follow Carlisle's hand and he touches his own dick through his pants, and then he lets out a small moan. I feel my own dick pressing at my zipper and am surprised by my own reaction – I decide to adjust it a little bit.

"One time we stroked our dicks as we both used our fingers to... ah," Jasper seems to be having a hard time saying the words. "Say it," Carlisle urges him, "say it out loud!"

We pull down our zippers at the same time and take out our cocks. It feels so good to touch my dick. I can hear moaning and slapping, but I close my eyes and try not to think about the others and just concentrate on the tightening in my stomach.

Breathlessly Jasper says, "We used our fingers in our assholes. Oh, fuck!" I hear two grunts and feel my balls explode as I come in my hand.

I realize Jasper and Carlisle also came. Although we never have done anything like this together before, I don't feel embarrassed as I open my eyes and look around for something to dry myself with.

After we have cleaned ourselves up, I ask them if they want more to drink. Both of them decline. We all are a bit exhausted and find our sleeping bags.

We lie there for a bit. Jasper's on his side facing Carlisle who has his hands behind his head and is staring up at the roof.

"So you guys are really okay with me being gay and all?" Jasper whispers after a while.

I'm okay with Jasper being gay. Even if we did this together I know I'm not gay myself, though. I don't say this out loud, because both Jasper and I are really waiting for Carlisle's reaction.

"Yeah," Carlisle whispers back, "I'm okay with it. Why wouldn't I be? You are who you are and you shouldn't have to hide yourself from the world."

Jasper sits up and stares at Carlisle for a while before saying, "Thank you! Your opinion means a lot to me, because you are my best friends."

I feel like I'm intruding on something private, so I turn around and face the wall.

"You are my best friend, too." I hear Carlisle say. I know they're staring at each other and I get my suspicions confirmed when a while later I hear Carlisle whisper, "Jasper, I'm so confused!"

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><p>AN: Thank you for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Last week I suddenly felt inspired to write Carlisle's story, and here it is, an additional chapter to the O/S I posted many months ago.

Thank you Malice Slashlover for pre-reading and Sue273 for betaing it. Any remaining mistakes are my own.

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><p>Chapter 2<p>

Carlisle POV

I scrunch down against the wall of the small bathroom in Edward's basement and the closer I get to the floor, the more the smell of urine hits my nose. It's Edward's responsibility to clean the bathroom and the small living room down here. I know this because he's often made Jasper and me help him do it in the past. As he used to say, we're making as much mess down here as he does.

Now that we don't hang out here as much as we used to, I guess he's not taking this responsibility so seriously anymore.

Right now, I don't fucking care what odor I smell. All I can think about is the guy on the other side of the door. How the hell can my best friend be gay and I never knew about it? And now he has met someone on the internet – fucking Alec. What kind of stupid name is Alec? I press my knuckles into my eyes and almost welcome the pain it gives me from the stitches. No, I don't want to hurt myself. I want to hurt a stupid guy living in fucking Chicago – I really hate him.

My head is swimming with alcohol and thoughts of Jasper and Alec together. Why am I so jealous? Fuck, I am jealous. No, that can't be it. Why would I be jealous of some guy chatting with my best friend, who just told me he is gay? Jasper likes guys; he likes cocks and flat chests, not big titties and floral perfume. Isn't that what I'm supposed to like? That's what society has told me my whole life; men like women, fuck them and reproduce. That's the way life is.

Of course, I know gay men and women exist, and I don't have a problem with that, but my best friend? Jasper? He's never had a girlfriend and when I try to think about it, I can't remember him talking about girls either. Never, actually. I have never seen him look at them. I've looked though. I have tried so hard to get them to kiss me and let me touch them, just as I'm supposed to, but for some reason they always turn me down. Edward and Jasper laughed at me. Said I should find a friendly girl to tell me how to treat them, what to say to make them like me. Problem is I kind of don't like them myself. How can I be a good enough actor to make them like me, if I don't like them in return?

I want to be brave, like Jasper, to admit to myself that I don't like pussy. I can't seem to get hard thinking about it. I only dream of hard muscles and firm bodies just like Jasper's. Oh, God, Jasper! He's so tall, taller than me even, his blue eyes shine at me, and his smile when he laughs at my jokes ... I'm not really a joker - I'm kind of a serious person, actually. But when I first made Jasper laugh, I had to see it again. I had to search for my comedian gene, buried deep down, polish it and now I'm a fucking master of making his dimples appear. I want to touch them, put my finger into them and trace the lines of his lips, kiss them even.

Fucking Alec! I hate him. I'm sure he can't make Jasper laugh for the life of him, and what kind of relationship can they have over the internet? Not one that matters, for sure.

I get up from the floor, determined to get to the bottom of the relationship between Jasper and Alec. If there is one at all.

"I don't love him," I hear Jasper say when I open the bathroom door and my heart jumps with joy.

"So, you don't love him, you only use him for sex?" I ask him. I have to know this. How far has their relationship gone? The joy in my heart vanishes when Jasper admits they watch each other jerk off. I sit beside Edward, staring at Jasper as his cheeks turn bright red talking about this and I can't help but think of him jerking off, holding his hard cock in his hand, his cheeks red like they are now.

Why oh why haven't I had the courage to admit this to myself before? I like Jasper! I fucking like a boy. I want to be the one to make him come, not Alec and not his own fist. I want it to be my hand, my mouth and, oh, fuck I want him to come on my cock. I stare into Jasper's eyes. "So tell us more about what you do together?"

"Sometimes it's really hot," I hear him say and when he says they stroke their dicks, I feel my own dick coming to life. Sitting in front of Jasper, seeing him staring at me like that so intensely and talking about himself wanking, makes me harder than I've ever been in my entire life.

I become aware of where I am. I'm sitting here together with my two best friends, hard as a rock, and I frantically look around for a pillow to hide it behind.

Jasper's large, sinewy hand is in his hair - it's so soft to touch. I know because I have accidentally felt it a few times. Not on purpose, of course. When his mouth, his perfect lips forms the words 'porn movie', 'blowjob' and 'fucking', all thoughts of where I am disappear from my consciousness and I can only focus on Jasper, how hard I am and that I have to do _something_ about it.

Ah, Jasper stares at my hand in my jeans, and he says he stroked his dick and used his fingers – for what? "Say it out loud," I demand. I need to hear him say what he used his fingers for. Oh, please say it. I can only see Jasper's eyes, his huge, black eyes and I pull my zipper down just as he does and I start to stroke myself. It feels so good. I have this huge pressure in my balls and all I can think of is getting relief, watching Jasper pleasuring himself at the same time.

Breathlessly, Jasper says, "We used our fingers in our assholes. Oh, fuck!" He jerks himself to orgasm just as I come all over my hand in the most mind-blowing release I've ever felt. It takes me several minutes to come back to the present and then I realize that Edward came too as I see him wiping his own cock with a tissue. The image of Edward coming doesn't arouse me at all. It's all Jasper for me, I think. Or maybe it's just some guys? I really have to think this through, and preferably with a clear head, and not clouded by alcohol and Jasper's presence.

I'm his best friend he says. Friend, not anything more. He has several friends he jerks off with now. Edward, me and Alec. But he doesn't love Alec he says, and I'm here lying on the floor, trying to sleep but my brain is wide awake and Jasper's lying on his side, staring at me. I focus on a spot in the ceiling.

My opinion means a lot to him. I'm his best friend, he says. Friend, that is all.

"You are my best friend too," I say, because he really is. He just doesn't know that he is more than a friend to me. Heck, I didn't realize until tonight either, so how can he know?

So am I gay, am I attracted to boys or is it just Jasper that makes me come harder than I've ever done? I have no idea, and I hope he can help me figure this out, so I turn to him. His face is just a few inches away from mine and I whisper to him, "Jasper, I'm so confused!"

He is so close, his cheeks so red and pupils dark. I could just move my hand a tiny fraction and touch his dimple. I know how to make it appear, but I can't seem to come up with a joke right now. He's staring at me so intensely. "What are you confused about, Carlisle?" he whispers, his breath washes over me, beer mingling with the smell of him, and I breathe it in deeply.

I so want to kiss him, not only feel his lips with my finger, I want to touch them with my own lips, taste his tongue and feel him close to me. I reach out and, before I know it, his hair is between my fingers when I see his startled expression. I quickly drag my hand away from him, but his hand snaps up, closing around my wrist and he holds it in a surprisingly tight grip. "What are you confused about, Carlisle?" he asks again, his tone demanding.

"I . . . I think I like you?" I stutter and have trouble meeting his eyes.

A few seconds pass and I have to see his expression, so I glance up at him. His eyes are intense and searching, looking between my eyes at high speed. "You like me?" he asks, not believing what I told him.

"Yeah, I think I do," I mumble.

His eyes turn hard as he accuses me, "Why are you saying this now? Is it because of Alec?"

I shake my head.

"Is it because I told you I'm gay?"

I shake my head again. I have to be honest with him, as honest as I have never been even to myself. "I don't think I really like girls, Jasper. The only person I think I like is you," I whisper to him.

"You think? You're not sure?" He's so demanding. I hadn't come to this conclusion before just now. How can he demand a thought through answer right at this minute?

I sigh deeply, turn my face to the ceiling again. "I'm confused, all right?" I tell him tiredly. "This is so new to me. I'm sorry about being so vague, but I only just realized it tonight," I admit.

"Hey," I hear him say as I feel his hand under my chin, turning my face to him again. His eyes are huge, and filled with warmth, can it be hope? "No, I'm sorry," he says. "I don't mean to pressure you in any way. I know I just dumped this me-being-gay-thing in your lap a few hours ago. I had never dreamed that there was a possibility that you liked me too."

My heart jumps up in my throat. Did he just say that he likes me? I stare at him and, without me cracking one of my stupid jokes, his dimples appear just on their own. His eyes are glittering and his smile huge as his finger strokes from my chin up to my lips, tracing the lines around them. "I've thought about touching you so many times, Carlisle. I never thought I'd have the chance of actually doing it. Please tell me I can kiss you!"

I feel butterflies swirling around in my stomach. Is my first kiss going to be tonight? Is it going to be a guy that gives it to me? My whole body screams 'yes' and I nod my head frantically. "Yes, please do," I whisper and his smile turns into a huge grin. He is so beautiful. How can I have been so stupid not seeing this before?

Then his eyes becomes all blurry as he leans in, closing the few inches that separate us and I feel the heat from his skin and his soft lips brushing against mine before he pulls away, staring intently at me. I wrinkle my eyebrows - was this all? My first kiss, and then it was all a teasing brush. "More," I whisper and he smiles happily at me, leaning in to kiss me with more pressure.

He feels so good, his smell, his moan and just . . . him, and I press myself against him. His tongue licks along my bottom lip. I open my mouth to taste him, and the taste of another person's tongue in my mouth is more than I ever have dreamed about. It must be that it's him. Oh, God, I have Jasper's tongue in my mouth, mingling with my own, brushing against the insides of my mouth.

The thought I had before of my cock being inside him is gone. All I can think about is his hands on my achingly hard cock and him buried as far as he goes into me. I groan into his mouth. All of the images that my mind presses forward at once show me that it's what I want.

He slowly pulls away from me. "No?" I whisper to him.

But he gestures his head to Edward's sleeping form. "Not now." And I understand what he means. We're moving too fast and we're in the presence of our other best friend. The friend that we both want to keep and stay close to.

I reluctantly nod at him, showing him I understand.

"We should get some sleep too," he whispers. "It's really late." I yawn just as he says the words and feel his hand sneaking under my neck and I snuggle against his arm, brushing my lips against his naked skin. His skin is surprisingly soft, over the strong muscles.

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><p>I wake the next morning with Edward nudging my side, saying, "Carlisle, wake up!"<p>

"No, I don't want to," I whine, snuggling closer to the warm body beside me and I feel more than I hear the chest of the person vibrate, as his deep voice chuckles. He? Deep voice? It takes me a few seconds to realize where I am and what happened last night. I look up at Jasper's face and see him staring seriously down at me.

I can't help the smile that forms on my face all by itself when I remember everything. His confession, myself becoming aware of the feelings I have pressed down for so long and . . . and I remember his lips – my first kiss. Jasper grins happily at me when he sees my smile. "Oh, thank God, it wasn't a dream, or only alcohol talking!" he exclaims.

I lean forward, wanting him to kiss me again, but I feel a nudge at my side again. "You guys! You're all sweet and shit, but we are fucking late! The game starts in half an hour and you don't have any of your things here. We need to leave pronto if we don't want coach to kick our butts! And remember it's Jacob's team we're meeting today, we really have to win this one," Edward urges us and we both jump up and start folding our sleeping bags.

"We'll talk more tonight," Jasper hurriedly promises, as we rush to Edward's car.

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><p>Jasper and I spend as much time alone together as we can over the next few weeks, and I do some much needed self-searching. We talk to each other on the phone late at night and a couple of times we jerk off together as we lay in our bedrooms listening to each others groans as we come. When we're together in my room or his, we talk and kiss but touch over our clothes only, and try to take this as slowly as our hormones let us. We haven't kissed or held hands in public yet and the only people who know we're together are Edward and a couple of other close friends.<p>

He stopped talking to Alec the night after our first kiss, not because I asked him too, but because he didn't want to anymore. I feel so sure about my feelings for him. It didn't take me long to realize them once I allowed myself to think about them. I have no idea if I could ever feel attracted to a girl and I don't care about that at all. I know society looks at couples of one boy and one girl as normal, but I only know what my heart tells me, and that is that one boy is natural for me, and his name is Jasper.

This Saturday there's another party at La Push beach and we're staying the night in tents again. This time it's only Jasper and I sharing a tent though. Edward has set his eyes on this new girl, the police chief's daughter who just moved here, and he hopes to persuade her to share his own tent tonight.

Jasper and I sit on a rock, sipping our beers as we watch him work his charm on her. He seems to have the hang of it and we turn our focus away from him and over to the crowd around us. I catch Jacob's eye and see him looking at Jasper and me with a wrinkle on his forehead, assessing the lack of distance between us. He strolls unsteadily over with a beer in his hand at the same time as to my horror I see Esme approach us.

"Oh fuck," I mumble.

Jasper hears me and looks up to see the two people in front of us. "Well, hello there," he says charmingly to Esme. He completely ignores Jacob who kicks his foot.

"Hey, Cullen. What's the deal between the two of you? Are you two _gay_ or something? Huh?" he says, his voice dripping sarcasm.

I knew he would give me trouble one day after I kicked his ass on the football field a few weeks ago. I look over at Jasper questioningly. We haven't discussed what we're going to tell people who ask us a direct question.

"So, are the two of you fags or what?" he slurs, his voice filled with mocking. Jasper jumps up so fast, my beer slips out of my hand and smashes on the ground. It's suddenly quiet all around us, and I nervously look around, hoping to see Edward's friendly face, but I can't find him. I see Esme's face though, and she's angry. Before Jasper can react anymore to Jacob's cruel words, her fist is in Jacob's eye so fast that both Jasper and I turn stunned to her.

"You idiot!" she yells at him, loud enough for everybody to hear. "Don't you dare say that word again!"

Jacob clutches his eye and his friends rush over to help him. I hear them say to him, "Jacob, you idiot! What did you say to her?"

Another one says, "God damn, that girl can hit! I think you might need to see a doctor, Jacob."

I smile at Esme, mouthing 'thank you', before I walk over to Jacob to take a look at his eye. He winces when he sees me, but I tell him loud enough for everybody to hear, "Do you want me to take you to Edward's father and let him stitch you up? Or don't you want to be in the car with a gay couple?"

They all stare from me to Jacob, and he mumbles, "Sorry man, I didn't mean it."

Jasper comes up behind me and folds his arms around me, kissing my neck. "That's all right," I tell Jacob. "I forgive your ignorance this time. Do you want me to take you to the doctor though?" I ask him again but he shakes his head.

"No, I don't think I need it, thanks," he mumbles, his fingers probing his eyelid.

"Okay," I tell him happily. "I'll go make out with my boyfriend then. See you on the football field in a couple of weeks, and prepare yourselves for some serious ass kicking."

We walk away from him hand in hand and Esme hurriedly follows us. "Hey, Carlisle, I'm sorry I punched you in the eye the other week. You said the most degrading things to me but I know I shouldn't have turned to violence. I just can't help it sometimes when people use those kinds of words," she shrugs.

"I'm all right now," I reassure her. "I'm so sorry for what I said to you before."

"Yeah, well, my cousin is gay too and I guess I hate it when people use such disrespectful words to anybody really," she explains.

I look over at the people around us and, there at the back of the group, I see the new girl yelling at a red-faced Edward.

"Hey, Esme!" I say. "Could you please go over to Edward and give him some hints on what to tell a girl to make her like him? I know he fancies her," I point at the girl. "But he has no clue on how to be romantic."

Jasper chuckles beside me, squeezes me against him and kisses my head.

* * *

><p>AN: Thank you for reading!


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